The Failed Protectors
by ashlovesCM
Summary: I have taken Nathan Harris, Ellie Spicer and Declan Jones. You have failed to protect them. Now you must feel the consequences. If you wish to save them you must find me. Find me and you will find them. Good luck
1. three photo frames

Reid took a sip of coffee while flipping through a file on his desk. A few feet away Morgan and Emily were sitting at their desks going through their morning routine. Both had their coffees, both had reports and files piled high and both had one opened on their desk as they set to work.

JJ was in her office down the hall while comparing cases. None of them were urgent enough for them to need to leave straight away so choosing between to equally matched case file was going to be difficult.

In his office, Hotch was talking with Rossi who sat on the other side of the desk. The conversation seemed light hearted and Hotch's lips could be seen curling into a smile from outside the office as Rossi talked about babysitting Jack over the past weekend.

Garcia excitedly followed one of the desk workers through a hallway leading to the bullpen, her neon purple heels clicking against the floor as she went. "Guys, look!" She almost squealed as she entered the bullpen, the profilers' heads turning to see the source of excitement.

"What's that?" Emily asked with a little smile.

"I think it's presents!" She exclaimed with a grin. The desk worker smiled at their excitement, handing the main package, a box covered in balloon wrapping paper, to Reid who was closest and passed the bouquet of yellow flowers to Garcia before leaving the bullpen.

"When do we ever get presents?" Emily said with a smile as Reid lifted the lid off the box and Garcia opened the note left in the flowers. Reid scrunched his eyebrows slightly and gave a confused look when he saw the box was full of scrunched up, pink tissue paper. Morgan got off his chair to get a better view and leant against his desk.

Garcia opened the little envelope that contained the note and slide the piece of paper out. "Um, guys" the blonde said with worry obvious in her voice. "I don't think these are presents" She added while passing the piece of paper to Morgan.

"Catch me if you can?" Morgan read from the card in a questioning voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Morgan" Reid said in a voice barely above a whisper. In one hand he was supporting the box and in the other he held a photo frame with a picture of a little girl in.

"Is that Ellie?" Garcia's eyes fixed on the photo as Morgan snatched it from the younger man and stared down at it.

"Who sent this?" Morgan had to stop himself shouting by gritting his teeth as he instantly recognised the little girl as Ellie Spicer.

"I- I don't know. All I saw was the desk worker bring it up" Garcia replied in a rush of words.

"There're more of them" Reid mumbled in disbelief as he pulled out another photo frame and passed it to Emily.

"Get Hotch" Emily exhaled after turning over the photo frame and seeing Declan's face. Garcia quickly nodded then rushed out of the bullpen and toward Hotch's office, pulling open the door without bothering to knock.

Reid stood and placed the box on his desk before pulling out the rest of the tissue paper until he came across the last photo frame. He picked it up and slowly turned it over, revealing Nathan Harris' face. Reid sat back in his chair in disbelief. It had only taken him a few moments to realise if someone was going after children Nathan could be in there, but he hadn't let himself believe he was in trouble until that moment.

Morgan had already ripped open his frame and was struggling to pull the photo out. Garcia's heels could be heard clicking with a deeper shoe set following her.

"What's happened?" Hotch asked once he came close to the group. His eyes studied the objects laying on desks and the frames in hands before flicking up to see some agents taking notice of the scene. Reid looked up and saw Rossi making a quick walk to the desks and cleared his throat.

"Three photo frames sent here. And this" Emily murmured while passing the piece of card to Hotch. He quickly glanced over the words and frowned a little.

"Bag everything for prints. Garcia- find out who sent these. Everyone else- briefing room. I'll get JJ" Hotch instructed before walking out of the bullpen in a calm manor.

"I need gloves" Morgan murmured after flipping the broken frame over to see something scrawled on the back of the picture. One of the desk agents quickly passed a pair which the man slipped on then pulled the photo out. "It's an address"

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"Police!" Morgan yelled as he took a step over the broken down door and into the apartment. He waved a hand to the SWAT team behind him who crept inside, splitting up and moving round the rooms silently.

"I got something!" One of the agents called from one of the back rooms. Morgan jogged toward the source of the noise and grabbed the piece of paper. He ran a hand over his head then motioned the agents toward the door, carrying the paper with him to the team outside.

"No one's inside but he left this" Morgan stated before Emily took the paper off him. She read through the first few words then winced slightly and passed it to Reid.

Reid's eyes glided over the words before he sighed and cleared his throat. "I have taken Nathan Harris, Ellie Spicer and Declan Jones. You have failed to protect them. Now you must feel the consequences. If you wish to save them you must find me. Find me and you will find them. Good luck" The youngest member of the team read, straining to keep his tone as monotone as possible.

"What's at the bottom?" JJ asked, peering at the piece of paper.

"The address for a public park…" Reid murmured, his eyebrows scrunched together as his mind ran calculations. "It's two miles away… We can get there in four minutes"

**This has been an idea I've had for a while but been putting off. I finally got around to it and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've been trying to decide between this and two other stories I've written on which one to post but instead of picking one I choose to post all and whichever get's the most positive feedback will be the one that I'll update the fastest. I decided to freeze the ages of all the kids at the last time we saw them on criminal minds just for practical reasons but hopefully it doesn't interfere with your guys reading and imagining it. Depending on if this is the most popular of the three stories; the next chapter could be up within the next week. Please review if you've got time!**


	2. a phone call at the park

Morgan took a few cautious steps toward the concrete bench inside the park. Behind him, two agents in bulletproof vests watched for any movements, their guns at the ready. Once they were in a few feet of the bench a brown envelope came into view. The taller support agent was the first to send the message back to the rest of the team waiting outside of the park.

"Get the bomb squad in here. There's another package" He demanded through his radio.

Morgan snatched at his own radio and pulled it close to his mouth. "Keep them on standby" He instructed. "The UnSub wouldn't have done all this just to blow up three agents"

After a small pause Hotch's voice could be heard through the radio. "Can you tell what it is?"

"It looks empty. Possibly a piece of paper but nothing big enough to set a dangerous charge" Morgan replied after sizing the envelope up.

There was another long pause. "Be careful" Hotch finally instructed before the line went quiet. Morgan let out a breath then took a step forward, reaching forward and picking up the envelope. He cautiously felt along the opening for anything unusual then carefully pulled it open. Like Morgan had suspected, inside was a piece of torn notebook paper.

"It's a note" The first agent spoke through the radio while Morgan read the instructions. Without explaining to the agents what was happening, he dropped the paper on the bench then closed the gap between him and the payphone a few feet away. His hand slide underneath until he felt a solid object and pulled it free, a silver flip phone dropping into his hand.

Morgan thought about sending a message back to Hotch but his instincts had already taken over as he flipped the phone open. Immediately it began ringing so Morgan pressed it to his ear.

"The phone is ringing" The second agent mumbled as he and the other man watched Morgan.

"Hello?" Morgan cautiously asked.

There was a long pause before Morgan heard someone breathe in on the other end of the line. "Hello agent Morgan" The smug voice began.

"Who is this?" Morgan asked through gritted teeth.

"Rules first, Derek" The voice said after tutting him.

After a long pause Morgan became impatient with the sound of the man's breathing. "Tell me the rules then" He practically shouted.

"Patience, Derek. Patience is the key to _everything"_ He said then paused for another few seconds. "I suppose it's hard not to be a little highly strung when Ellie, the girl you promised to protect, goes missing. Or is it the mentally unstable boy who depended on your friend Spencer that's stressing you out?" He asked then paused to think. "No, I think the person causing the most pressure is little Declan. After all, Emily almost died to protect him. And yet, I have him"

"You shut your mouth right now-" Morgan began through gritted teeth.

"Oh, does Derek have a temper too?" The man asked, interrupting Morgan as he spoke. "Impatient and bad tempered… not good traits, are they Derek?" He added then grinned sickly.

"Why are you doing this?" Morgan finally sighed.

"Derek, you and I are both smart enough to not need the hostage speech. I'm not going to tell you why I'm doing this until later. Ask again and my cause will… escalate" The man said, satisfied with the word he settled on. "As I was saying Derek: rules. I'll give you a few moments to compose yourself before I explain them to you. I'll be calling back in 2 minutes, I trust you to not tap the phone. The consequences for little Ellie are rather unsavoury"

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"He's calling back in a couple minutes. _Do_ _not_ tap the phone" Morgan rushed down the line after he saw one of the agents reach for his radio.

"What did he say, Morgan?" Rossi was the first to ask, outside the park the team had gathered around the radio connecting them with Morgan.

"He was talking about rules… He has Ellie and the others, he admitted it. I just need a little longer with him" Morgan quickly said then glanced around the park.

"Try and remember everything he says. Stay focused and find out as much as you can about the kids" Hotch instructed, after a few seconds of silence the cell phone jumped to life in Morgan's hand.

"I've gotta go" he mumbled before letting go of his radio and answering the cell.

For the first few seconds Morgan could only hear breathing before the man's voice returned. "Had a nice chat with your family, Derek?"

"They just wanted to know I was okay" Morgan answered quickly, his eyes darting round to see if the man was watching him.

"Lucky for you that isn't against the rules" The man stated in a sickly sweet tone. "Ah, that was what I was going to tell you about on this phone call. I want you to listen carefully now. If you break a rule, accidentally or not, there will be consequences. If you attempt to find your way around a rule or do anything behind my back there will be consequences. Any and all consequences will be extremely unpleasant for all parties. Have I made myself clear?"

"Completely" Morgan replied after swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Rule number one- This game will be played out strictly between the eight members of the BAU team. Those members are Erin Strauss, Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau, Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia and you, Derek Morgan. I am aware of the protocol within the FBI so your higher authority can be aware of the game however they are not allowed to participate. Understood?"

"Perfectly" Morgan answered after a small pause to take in what he had heard.

"Rule number two- to keep this a level playing field no cell phones will be tapped. Fingerprinting and other forms of identifying the participants are aloud. I will not tap your phones so I trust you to play fairly with me. Rule number three- family members of the players are not allowed to live anywhere but their current residence while the game is being played. Protection can be posted outside of the houses but the people must not change their residence. Still keeping up?"

"Yes" Morgan exhaled.

"Final rule, Derek" The man said in a sickly sweet voice. "Rule number four- All players must play until the end of the game. If any players, on either team, resign from the game they will be in direct conflict of the rules. All punishments for breaking rules have equal severity. No rule breaking will be tolerated or given a small punishment. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes" Morgan repeated while nodding rapidly.

"Under the bench there will be a copy of the rules in a brown envelope. It will be taped underneath. I trust you to take it to the others so they have an equal start. After all, you are a team" The man slowly said before hanging up the phone.

**I decided I'd make another chapter for all three stories to help everyone make their decisions. This story has had the most positive feedback so far and is in the lead for which one I'll continue but maybe a second chapter will shake things up a little. Hope you liked the chapter and please review if you've got time!**


	3. the briefing room

"What do you know so far?" Strauss asked. The team were sitting in the briefing room with the blonde wandering round the table that evidence was placed on.

"This morning at roughly 8:45 a man dropped off the box and flowers at the front desk with the instructions that they were for the BAU who saved his children. The parcels were then brought up to the BAU's floor by a desk worker, who was met by Garcia. She brought them to Reid, Prentiss and Morgan by their desks where the parcels were opened" Hotch said in a monotone voice.

"We're still waiting for the CCTV from the front desk but the person who was working at the time the stuff was dropped off said the man seemed relaxed and hadn't made any attempt to obscure his face from the cameras. That either means that the UnSub is confident we won't be able to identify his face or that the person who dropped the presents off wasn't our UnSub" Morgan added.

"Either way the person who sent the stuff would probably have had to know our schedules to make sure each person was there to receive their photo frame" Emily said thoughtfully.

"Couldn't it just be a coincidence?" Strauss asked and raised an eyebrow.

"It would be highly unlikely if it was. The note he added with the flowers saying 'catch me if you can' is a challenge to us. He also made sure that the desk worker was told the presents were for the BAU who saved his children. Most people who have children that are victims of crime find it difficult to talk about, they wouldn't mention it to someone they didn't know. If it was thankful parent he would have written a letter explaining who he was or met with the team personally, he wouldn't have told the desk worker" Reid stated.

"All of that shows that this isn't the type of person to leave something down to chance. He wanted the desk worker to know this was about children and he wanted to place himself above the BAU. Someone like that couldn't do anything if he wasn't absolutely certain it would work as he planned" JJ added when Strauss still looked confused after Reid's explanation.

"Are you sure the children really are missing?" Strauss asked after a small pause.

"Ellie was reported missing an hour ago by her mom. She told the police that when she woke up this morning Ellie was gone. There was no apparent forced entry on any of the windows or doors, there was no struggle and it doesn't look like she ran away" Garcia said while still typing on her laptop.

"What about the other two?" Strauss asked, her eyes fixed on Nathan and Declan's photos.

"Nathan didn't turn up for school today. His mom had a graveyard shift at the hospital that only finished half an hour ago so she didn't notice anything was wrong until she got home and found his school bag still there. All signs point to him just vanishing, same as Ellie" Garcia quickly read off her screen. "Declan was on a camping trip with his school last night. He was sharing a tent with a few of his friends, when they woke this morning he was gone. Mountain search and rescue are combing the forest now but there's no sign of him yet" The blonde explained.

"How can one man kidnap three children in one night and make it back here to drop that off by 8:45?" Strauss asked with an impatient tone to her voice while pointing to the flowers lying on the table.

"He can't" Garcia blurted out without thinking then quickly clicked a button on the remote for the briefing room's presentation screen so that a map appeared. The blonde then stood and walked over to the screen. "Declan was in a gated campground an hour away from the North Virginia border" She began and a red mark came onto the screen at the boy's last known location. "Nathan was three and a half hours away in his home. Ellie was in Ohio. At a push he could have driven from Nathan's home to Ellie's, and stopped off at the campground Declan was staying at within 9 hours but that doesn't even include getting the kids… or what he did with them once he had them" She explained, grimacing at the end of the last sentence.

"So two UnSubs?" Strauss thought aloud after she had taken in the information shown on the screen. In the time the profilers had explained the situation to Strauss, Garcia had pinpointed the missing kids last location and composed three of the most likely routes the UnSub would have taken, the quickest one highlighted green.

"At least" Rossi murmured from the back of the table. "If there's multiple UnSubs there's got to be a leader. He's going to be the one deciding the days of abduction, the children abducted and practically every other detail of his plan. He wouldn't be working with a partner; he'd have workmen carrying out his orders. He'd have at least one other person abducting the children so that he could send another man in to drop off the parcel"

"So how many are we looking at here?" Strauss said with a tired sigh while pulling off her glasses and sitting down on the nearest available chair.

"No more than five knowing participants, including the leader. Any more than that and he would lose the ability to control all of them at any given time" Morgan answered first.

"They would all have to have some investment in this; all would be personal, although the leader's motive would be more obvious than the others. The other men would have probably just been brushed aside by an investigation the BAU were part of. They wouldn't have a reason big enough, on their own, to do this size of an attack on us" Hotch elaborated.

"But together they feel personally vindicated. The leader would inspire them and would have probably left it to one of the other men to suggest getting back at us" Emily finished.

"If he knows so much about you and can control all of his followers, how do you plan to stop him before something happens to the children?" Strauss asked with a world-weary voice.

"This man's strength is that he planned everything down to the last detail. The only way he could get inside the BAU and make an attack like this was to have the ability to make it personal _and_ to separate himself enough to plan. To do something like that he would have to spend every last minute of his time planning. Fortunately for us, that planning will be his one weakness"

**I've decided that this will be the story I will be continuing first but the others will get updates soon too. This story should be updated every Saturday and the other two will be updated whenever I have some spare time to write. Also, all three stories aren't going to have any ships so everyone can just enjoy the story without having a pairing they don't like bugging them. Please review if you've got time and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!**


	4. interviewing the families

Reid glanced round the campsite as the camp leader, Rob, led him and Rossi toward the group of tents no more than twenty yards from the fire pit. "We didn't realize Declan had disappeared until one of his roommates told us. We did a head count at ten o'clock last night and another at eight o'clock this morning to see if anyone else had gone missing" The man explained before stopping by the tent furthest from the rest.

"Could we talk to the boys who shared a tent with Declan?" Rossi asked as he peered inside the large tent.

"Yeah, sure" Rob agreed. "Today was going to be the last day before we brought the kids back to school tomorrow. The teachers and I decided it was best to send the other kids back today. The boys that were sharing with Dec are in the camp office, we thought you might want to ask them about last night"

"Was Declan acting strangely last night? Could he have been unusually withdrawn or quiet?" Reid asked while walking round the outside of the tent.

"Nope, he was acting the same as he was the whole week. It was his first camping trip with the school and he was happy" He answered and scuffed his shoe against the dirt. Once the agents had finished looking around the tent he took them to the camp office where three boys were nervously waiting.

"This is Charlie, Tom and Tyler. Boys, this is doctor Reid and agent Rossi. They want to talk to you about Declan" Rob said then paused before turning to the profilers. "I'll give you guys some privacy" He added and left the room.

Rossi pulled a chair opposite the boys and sat down while Reid leant against the empty welcome desk.

"Have you found him yet?" Charlie asked, his eyes still fixed on the ground.

"Not yet but we are looking for him" Rossi assured the boys. "When was the last time you saw Declan?"

"I saw him last night just before I fell asleep" Tyler stated.

"Tom and I went to the bathroom during the night, when we came back Dec and Ty were sleeping" Charlie added.

Tom was quiet for a few moments then glanced up at the profilers. "I heard him leave the tent last night. It was about an hour after me and Charlie had got back… I thought he was just going to the toilet so I went back to sleep" He explained.

"When was that?" Reid asked.

"About midnight" Tom answered.

"And when did you realize he wasn't there anymore?" Rossi questioned the boys.

"In the morning, around eight o'clock. Ty woke me and Tom up. We went and got one of the teachers when he wasn't back after ten minutes"

Rossi nodded then stood and made his way toward the exit. "You've been a lot of help" He added as Reid followed him outside. Once the door was securely closed they slowly walked toward the SUV. "If one of the UnSubs was waiting for him, he would have taken him at the first chance he got" Rossi stated.

"Which means he probably wouldn't have had time to get the other two" Reid finished off, Rossi reaching for his phone to relay the information back.

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"Mrs. Spicer, This is agent Prentiss, I'm agent Hotchner" Hotch stated after the front door to the Spicer house had been opened.

"I remember you" She mumbled while resting on the doorframe. She rubbed a hand up her arm and glanced around behind the agents. She opened her mouth to say something then sighed and walked into the house, leaving the door open for them. Emily and Hotch exchanged looks before following the woman inside. "Ellie's room is in there" She added while pointing toward a door.

Hotch led the way into the room with the women following. Emily looked round the room, her eyes falling on the desk where sheets of homework were laid. The paper placed on top of the pile dated only to the previous day and was half filled in. "When did you last see Ellie?" Hotch asked as he scoped the room.

"Last night at around eleven o'clock. I was walking past her room and I checked on her, she was asleep in bed so I turned her nightlight off and went to bed" Spicer recalled.

"Did anything seem odd about her behaviour? Maybe she got up during the night when she normally wouldn't?" Emily questioned.

"No, she was totally normal" She said in a distant voice before rubbing at her face to stop a tear falling and stepping out of the room.

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Morgan and JJ hopped into the SUV, the man flipping open his phone and dialling Garcia's number. "Hey babygirl, it's Morgan" He greeted.

"Hey, Sug. I'm patching you through to the others" Garcia said while pressing a through buttons before other voices were audible.

"We didn't get anything from Nathan's mom" Morgan stated once he was sure everyone was connected.

"She says she saw him just before she left for work at eight o'clock last night. She got a text from his phone at eleven saying he was going to bed and that he'd see her after school the next day. Her phone was switched off so she didn't get the message until she was on her way home but according to her, it sounded like it was from him" JJ relayed.

"So what's the window of time he had to take Nathan?" Rossi asked.

"Nathan usually talks to his neighbour on his way to school but he didn't today so we're guessing he'd already been taken by then. It leaves about an eight hour window from eleven till seven" Morgan explained.

"Declan's abductor had about eight hours too" Rossi stated. "The last time he was seen was when he left the tent at twelve o'clock but wasn't reported missing until eight o'clock. We think he was taken when he left the tent but we can't be sure"

"Whoever took Ellie had nine hours so it looks like they all had about the same time to get the kids" Emily said.

"So we're looking at three kidnappers?" Morgan guessed.

"It would make it sense" Reid agreed. "Declan's abductor wouldn't have many opportunities to get him out of the tent, he would have to be waiting for him otherwise he could miss his chance"

"So I'm looking for three guys?" Garcia asked and stretched her fingers, preparing to put in her new parameters.

"Four, including the partner" Hotch corrected. "We're on our way back now; we'll give you the full profile when we get to the office"

**For anyone wondering, Nathan Harris was a boy from season 2. from what i can remember he was suspected as an UnSub in one of the episodes and toward the end of the episode he committed suicide. there was a lot of drama around it but Reid saved him, he wasn't mentioned much after that though. i think if you google him you could probably find out more about his character but that's what i know about him at least. i'm thinking next chapter i might look into how Reid, Emily and Morgan are coping with the kid's being abducted and maybe see where the kids are. hope you liked the chapter and please review if you've got time!**


	5. the profiles

"We're looking for a male between the age of thirty five and fifty" Hotch began. "He _will _have crossed paths with the BAU and our actions will have, directly or indirectly, caused a life changing event in his life. We might have arrested or he might have looked into him as a suspect but either way our team interacted with him and when we catch him we will remember the case"

"We're also looking for three to four accomplices. None of these will have had as close contact with our unit but they will all blame the BAU for something unfortunate happening in their lives" Reid added. "They'll all be within twenty to thirty years old and very impressionable. The first UnSub didn't need to try very harder to persuade them to join his cause"

"The leader of the job might have held a high powered job at one point but would have lost it within the last five years. This might have been because of implications with the BAU or he might have quit his job so he could have more time to research us" Morgan said.

"The followers will have also had jobs but they would have been menial and possibly emasculating. The leader would have persuaded them to quit their jobs so that they could spend more time helping him" Emily finished.

Garcia quickly typed the final bit of information into her laptop as she sat in the corner while four board officials sat with muted faces in front of the profilers. "So, there's nothing we can do to help? We can be very discreet" The oldest man offered.

"This man knows everything about our lives and we don't have any leads on who he might be, it would be too risky to go against the rules at this point" Hotch turned down his offer politely then glanced to Garcia. "Our technical analyst Garcia is looking for information on the man who dropped off the package this morning"

"He hasn't come up on the initial sweep" Garcia stated while looking up at the board members then back at her laptop. "But I've got his physical dimensions as well as a pretty good face shot so it won't be too long before I find him"

Strauss was sat at the back of the room watching the conversation until it came a pause. She sat forward in her chair, cleared her throat to draw the profilers attention. "I suggest you all go home and get some sleep. I've rerouted all incoming cases to another team so you can focus completely on the case in hand. Guards have been posted outside your house until this whole thing is over" She informed them then stood and left the room, leaving the door open for the rest of them.

The board members exchanged looks then nodded and stood. "We wish you the best of luck. We'll be ready to help with any developments" The woman of the group added before they left too.

"Garcia, set up alerts to my cell for any results on the sweep. I want all of you to go home and get some rest, it's been a long day and we can't afford to be tired on this case" Morgan reached a hand up to object but the team leader gave him a stern look. "No exceptions"

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Morgan sat down on the sofa in his living room, sighing heavily after taking a sip of his beer. He doubted he'd sleep tonight. Everything kept spinning round and round his head. He was scolding himself for not thinking clearly earlier that day He should have got Reid to answer the phone, he would have remembered everything. Even after a cognitive interview he could only remember patches of the conversation, his rage erasing parts of his memory.

He took three big gulps of the bitter liquid then placed it on the table and rubbed his face roughly. Why had he been so stupid? He had been so caught up in talking to the guy that had Ellie that he'd forgotten all about the team. He'd taken it personal when he should have distanced himself so he could think. He took another sip of the drink then picked up his phone and dialled a familiar number.

"Hey sugar" Garcia greeted in a tired voice.

"Hey" Morgan said with a soft smile. "You weren't sleeping were you?"

"Nope, just setting up a few more screenings on Interpol" Garcia replied then yawned. "Everything ok?"

"No… I've just been thinking about what happened today"

"Thinking? Sounds dangerous" Garcia joked then paused what she was doing when he only let out a small laugh. "What's eating at you?" She asked with obvious concern.

"I just feel responsible for this" Morgan confessed in her a quiet voice. "Reid would have been able to tell us exactly what he'd said; Emily would have been able to tell us exactly where he was from just by his accent… I can't even remember half of what he said"

"Did you kidnap those kids?" Garcia asked.

Morgan ran a hand over the back of his head. "No" He sighed.

"Then this isn't your fault" Garcia stated, not wanting to leave any room for him to protest she followed this with "I don't want to hear anymore about you blaming yourself, ok?" She waited to hear him agree then smiled softly. "We're gonna catch this guy, I promise. It'll all be over soon"

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JJ stepped out of the house with Will slightly behind her. Henry leant forward in Will's arms to get a better look at the policeman standing outside his house. "What's your name?" He asked in a squeaky voice.

JJ turned to see who her son was talking to then mentally grimaced, she'd been dreading having to explain this to him. "This is Paul, Henry" She said.

"Why's he outside our house?" The blonde boy questioned while scrunching his face in confusion.

JJ and Will exchanged looks as they struggled to think of an answer so Paul cleared his throat and smiled softly. "Well Henry, my job is to count the cars that go along this road. You're mommy and daddy said that I could stand here and count them which was very nice of them, don't you think?"

Henry grinned and rapidly nodded. "How many cars have you counted?" He asked while fidgeting in his father's grip.

"Only four so far but I've got the whole day left!" Paul answered with a smile. "How about I tell you how many I count when you get back from daycare?"

Henry quickly nodded again before Will carried him to one of the cars parked in the drive. "Thanks" JJ said discreetly then made her way to the other car. Paul smiled softly then surveying the surroundings again with a serious look.

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Hotch watched the team pile into the briefing room as he sat in the furthest away chair, a hot cup of coffee standing on the table in front of him. Once everyone was settled he looked to Garcia who was sleepily rubbing her eyes, making sure not to smudge her make up as she did so. "Did anything come up on the sweep?"

Garcia shook her head and began tapping at her laptop. "I check every database in America and there was nothing. He didn't even appear in any of the Interpol checks" She stated in a disheartened tone.

"So the leader made sure to make this guy undetectable" Emily grumbled while propping her head up one hand, her elbow resting on the table.

"I can hold a press conference" JJ offered. "Appeal to anybody who might know him"

"It might conflict with who can play the 'game'" Hotch reminded them which deflated the small hope JJ had built.

"Wait…" Garcia whispered as her typing quickening and a grin creeping onto her lips. "I've got him!" She exclaimed with glee.

"How? You said he wasn't anywhere" Reid asked while leaning his chair back to get a peak at the laptop's screen.

Garcia pressed a few buttons then looked up at the group. "Remember what the desk worker said. He turned _left _when he got out onto the street. If you want to get to the car park you'd turn left. You wouldn't walk toward a car park if you didn't have a car, right? So I put in all of his dimensions and I came up with 163 guys that matched"

"How'd you work out which one it was, then?" Emily asked with a hint of impatience after the tech queen let tension build.

"Well, there aren't 163 guys in DC that are 5'6 and a shoulder width of 17 inches" Garcia stated which made Morgan chuckle.

"That is a pretty scrawny guy" Morgan pointed out with a smile.

"So once I made sure I had the guys living in this area it was only a matter of time before I found Mr. Charles Griffin" Garcia announced proudly while spinning the laptop round to show a picture of a skinny man. "This son of a bitch might think he's smart but he didn't even have enough common sense to get someone out-of-state to deliver the package"

xxxxxxxxxx

Morgan was leant against the edge of his desk until Hotch and Rossi strode in when he stood. As the two senior agents approached Reid and Emily stopped at Morgan's desk to wait for them. "Griffin has a website so he never had direct contact with the man. A stolen credit card paid for the delivery and used a freshly made email off a burner phone for the instructions. There's no way we can trace them" Hotch explained.

"Dammit" Emily and Morgan said in unison, Reid letting out a sigh as he slightly shook his head.

Suddenly Morgan's phone began ringing. He checked the caller ID, his eyes widening when the caller was unknown. He quickly flashed the screen at Hotch who held up a hand for silence then nodded for him to answer. "Hello?" Morgan asked cautiously.

"Put me on speaker, Derek" The man's voice, from the day before, instructed calmly. Morgan pressed a button then carefully placed the phone on his desk. "Tsk tsk, Derek" The man said, obviously enjoying it.

"What d'you want?" Morgan asked in a snappy voice.

"I see you still haven't dealt with the anger issues" He grinned. "Does Aaron know you have a short fuse? I'm surprised you're allowed out in public with a temper like that"

"What's this about?" Morgan asked in the calmest voice he could manage, he couldn't let himself get angry again.

"I suppose they don't know about your drinking problem either"

"I don't have a drinking problem" He said through gritted teeth.

"Funny, that. I was told that if drinking costs you more than money than it's a problem. Wouldn't you agree?" The man questioned while still smirking.

"That beer last night cost me a few dollars… nothing else" Morgan growled, his mind skipping to the conclusion that had been planned for him.

"Oh, I'd disagree…" The man snickered.

"What did you do to Ellie" Morgan asked, it was obvious in his expression he was dreading the answer.

"It's not Ellie you should be worrying about"

There was a long a pause as the team looked around then a little voice came down the line. "Mommy?"

JJ's face dropped. "Henry!"


	6. teddy bear's daycare

"Do I have your attention now?" The smug voice said down the line.

"You give me back my baby you son of a bitch!" JJ screamed, her eyes fiery from rage and locked on the phone.

"Language, Jennifer" He warned. "Wouldn't want Henry picking up that fowl word, would we? Run along now, Henry"  
"I want to talk to Mommy" Henry's little voice said clearly, the team could imagine him staring down the other man.

"I said: run along" The man growled which made JJ panic even more.

"Henry, do what he says, ok baby?" JJ pleaded.

There was a long silence before light footsteps, running away from the phone, echoed around. "Good boy" The man said in an oily voice. "Do I have your attention now?" He repeated in a sinister voice.

"Yes" JJ replied in a breathlessly, her heart going into overdrive. "Just please, give him back" She begged.

"Oh, Jennifer. Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer" The man said and shook his head in disappointment. "I suspected a _strong_ FBI agent like yourself to be a little more in control… I guess you're just as _weak_ as the others. Must be the boy that stole your mojo" He summed up with a shrug.

"Why are you targeting us?" Hotch questioned in a neutral voice.

"Let's see who we have in this _magnificent_ team, shall we?" The man continued his speech, ignoring Hotch's question. "An alcoholic, a mommy with no baby, a computer whiz with the mental age of a five year old, a spinster, a rich dude, a human computer and a man with the emotions of a rock. How _do _you guys get past the security checks?" The man asked with a sick laugh.

"What did we do to you?" Hotch asked while grinding his teeth together.

"To me? Lots. But that's just your problem, _agents._ You turn everyone's lives upside down and don't even give a damn! You ruined my life so now I'm going to ruin yours!" The man spat in a rage then disconnected the call and slammed the phone onto the table.

There was a long silence in the room, agents who were working at their desks had stopped and were looking up at the profilers with concern. "I need to tell Will" JJ mumbled then stumbled out of the room, pulling her phone out of her pocket and desperately searching her contacts.

Hotch took a deep breath then turned back to the rest of the team's distracted faces. "Morgan and Prentiss: go to Henry's daycare. The UnSub only had a day to plan this so he might have been less careful. If there's anything out of place, call me" He instructed before the two profilers left. "Reid I need you to nail the geographical profile. If he hasn't been specific enough for you to find anything new then come back and I'll assign you something else, we can't afford to waste time on this. Use Garcia if you need to. Rossi: go with Garcia and work on some new parameters for finding him. Remember- we need to find him as fast as possible"

xxxxxxxxxx

Morgan's eyes fixed on the ambulance as he parked the SUV opposite 'teddy bear's daycare'. "Looks like he wasn't so careful this time" He murmured as he and Emily hopped out of the car and started toward the ambulance. When they got within ten feet they caught sight of a woman with a large gash above her left eye who was sat on the edge of the vehicle. The profilers flashed their badges and stated "Agent Morgan and Agent Prentiss"

"I didn't get a proper look at the guy, it all happened too fast" The woman mumbled while a paramedic mopped up the blood.

"We respect that you can't remember much now but we think that if you agree to a cognitive interview we might be able to find out who did this"

"Why are the FBI here anyway? I know Henry's mom is with the FBI but it's a little extreme..."

"Three other children were abducted yesterday by the same people. If we're going to find any of them, we need your help" Morgan said with a twinge of impatience.

The woman made a look of concern and surprise then shakily nodded.

xxxxxxxxxx

"We need you to close your eyes, Sarah" Emily said in a soft voice. The brunette paused for a moment then slowly closed her eyes. "What were you doing before he came in?"

"I was setting up the crayons and paper for the kids. We were going to do some drawing before snack time" Sarah hesitatingly said.

"Then what happened?" Morgan asked.

"I heard a noise behind me. I turned round and he was there. Right in front of me" Sarah was squeezing Emily's hand tightly as she recounted the story.

"What did he look like?" Emily questioned.

"Tall, white… H-he had black hair" She stuttered. "The window was open, that's how he got in… He grabbed me by the throat and said if I didn't get Henry he'd kill everyone… I didn't know what to do! I panicked and-"

"It's ok, Sarah" Morgan quickly comforted her as the woman became more and more uncomfortable with the situation. "We're right her with you, alright? What was he wearing?"

Sarah took a deep breath then continued. "Jeans… blue jeans, I think. He had a white t-shirt on too…" She mumbled "I went and got Henry… I begged the guy not to hurt him but he threw me on the floor and… and when I woke up they were gone" Sarah said then slowly opened her eyes. "I shouldn't have let him take Henry, should I?"

"You did what anyone else would have" Emily said softly then stood and left with Morgan close behind. Once they were out of earshot Emily glanced over to the muscular man. "Tall white guy in jeans and a t-shirt… Shouldn't be hard to find" She commented grimly.

xxxxxxxxxx

"That was Prentiss" Rossi said as he hung up the phone. "The witness can't tell us much other than it was a tall, skinny white guy"

"Age range?" Garcia asked while typing in the information.

"It's unlikely to be the leader so go for twenty to thirty years old"

The blonde typed it in then looked for results. "Twenty hundred possible" Garcia stated in a disheartened tone.

"Alright, now cross check those with people who recently quit a job with low power or small pay" Rossi instructed.

"Now we're getting somewhere" Garcia grinned. "Three hundred and sixteen, got anything else for me?"

"See if any of them or anyone they know had a run in with our team"

Garcia typed as fast as she could then grinned like a Cheshire cat. "And bingo was his name-o" She said with glee. "Let me introduce you to Mr. Chad Moore" Garcia added proudly, her screens filling with Chad's picture. "Weighing in at one hundred and twelve pounds with a height of six foot and skin _begging_ for a spray tan, I present to you our skinny white guy. He and his brother have a record as long as my arm but both mysteriously stopped in 2007. This happened to be the year Chad's younger brother, Tommy, was investigated by our team. He fit the profile for the guy we were looking for but apparently it wasn't him and he was cleared of all charges… However, Tommy lost his job, was diagnosed with depression and… he died from a drug overdose in 2009" Garcia explained, her voice becoming gentler toward the end.

"You brother kills himself because of our team, It's more than enough of a motive to join the leader" Rossi sighed.

"Which the leader would have latched onto" Reid broke in.

Rossi and Garcia spun round to see the genius standing at the entrance with a look like he was processing something. "How long have you been there?" Garcia asked.

"Long enough to hear your explanation" He answered in a rush. "If we raid Chad's house we might find something linking him to the UnSub"

Rossi thought for a moment then walked purposefully toward the door. "Let's do it then"

xxxxxxxxxx

A shadowy figure sat back in a blood red armchair with a smug smile. He'd really riled them up this time. He spent a few moments enjoying the pleasure of getting back at them then stood and sauntered out of the room and down a corridor. "It's time to feed them" He instructed the group of four men who slowly stood and made their way out of the room. The leader smiled at his authority then followed them.

One of the men opened an old fashioned fridge and pulled out four trays holding a single sandwich covered in saran wrap. The man passed the trays out to the three other men, each now holding one tray each.

The group of men then strolled out of the kitchen, followed by the leader, and down a long corridor. Each man kneeled down by a door, lifted up a latch, pushed the food through the hole and gave a harsh rap on the door before leaving. The only man remaining in the corridor was the leader who slowly walked toward the last door. He undid the three different locks then pulled the door open. He smiled smugly at the crumpled figure lying in the corner. "Hello, Nathan"

**cliffhanger, anyone? (i seem to be doing quite a few of them lately) i really wanted to incorporate Nathan a little into this chapter as well as in the next one so if you've got any ideas on what you'd like to happen with him PLEASE let me know in a review or a PM. i might try and explore Chad too and possibly even the leader, depending on the feedback i get and how it goes with the general plan i have for the team/case. please review if you've got time, it means so much and is really encouraging!  
**

**EDIT- ahhh! accidentally loaded up the wrong chapter, anyway here is the right one. **


	7. do i have your attention?

The small frame of Nathan's body slowly shifted into a sitting position, his eyes fixing coldly onto the man's figure. "What do you want" He growled.

"Oh, Nathan. I thought you'd be a little friendlier than that… After all I've done for you" The man sighed as he picked up the plastic chair, placed it the right side up and sat down.

"All you've done?" Nathan spat angrily. "I'm locked in a prison cell with a stupid sandwich pushed through my door three times a day!"

"I've given you a place in my home and feed you a nutritious meal everyday" The man corrected in a calm tone and crossed his legs. "I value our relationship, Nathan. I believe we can help each other"

"If you expect me to bond with you then you can drop that idea" Nathan mumbled while squaring his shoulders in an attempt to intimidate the man.

"I can explain why you and the other children are here, if that would make you feel better" The man said plainly.

"And what would you want in return?" Nathan asked while trying to hide his interest in the offer.

"Information on Dr. Reid" The man replied. Nathan's face dropped and he backed into the wall. "I won't hurt Spencer. We're playing a game, you see. I can get a little… _competitive_ at times, that's all. That's why I need to know about him, so I can win"

xxxxxxxxxx

Morgan swiftly kicked the door in then backed away as it hit the floor. Hotch moved past him, his gun aimed and his eyes searching for traps. After the team leader a few SWAT agents piled in and began securing the small apartment. "Clear" Hotch yelled to the profilers who were eagerly waiting by the broken door.

The four agents, Rossi, Reid, Emily and Morgan, entered the apartment and split into pairs. Rossi found himself searching through the neat living room with Reid, flipping through the books on the shelves to find anything useful.

After a few minutes or so Emily and Morgan traipsed into the living room with Hotch close behind. "There's nothing in the bedroom, just a bed and a wardrobe" Emily stated and joined the still searching agents.

"This is probably just a spare address for him then. The leader offers to let him stay at his house and in return gets a live in assistant" Rossi mused while placing a book back on the shelf.

"We should still search the apartment" Hotch instructed. "The leader might have left a clue here for us" He added before the team parted ways again and resumed the fingertip search.

xxxxxxxxxx

A toothy smirk spread across a man's face. Moonlight was pooling through a slice in the curtains that glinted against his pearly whites but the rest of his face was cast in shadow. The only other light in the room came from his phone that was resting in his right hand. Moments before he'd received a call informing him his next target was close to becoming his. His eyes glided over the small prison- like cell in front of him and admired his handy work. In a matter of days, or possibly hours, this room would have a new occupant.

It was a pity the other three couldn't be as helpful to the man as Nathan had been. Despite his unstable mental health, the teenager had proven his worth. The other three were becoming more and more dispensable by the minute.

He knew he'd have to raise the stakes soon. Another kidnapping might help but the children were starting to bore him. Declan spent every waking moment bashing his hands against the door and walls, shouting to be let out, Ellie sat silently and refused to eat and Henry cried for his mom. All were completely useless to him. No, they'd have to prove their worth to him or they would be discarded.

The man stepped away from the moonlight, closed the metal door and strolled down the corridor. His eyes flicked to and from each door before he made his choice. He smoothly opened the door and smiled smugly at the occupant. "Good evening" He began in a sickly sweet voice. "Care for a chat?"

xxxxxxxxxx

Reid took a sip of a caffeine and sugar filled coffee. The hot liquid left a burning sting on his tongue but he knew he wouldn't be awake long enough to leave it to cool. In front of him the six other members of the team sat yawning and shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Pictures, files and maps lay scattered across the table and a large map of Virginia and the surrounding states was pinned onto the wall.

Reid swallowed a yawn and pointed to the large red circle on the map. "Because the kidnappings are spread out so far the leader most likely picked a place as central as possible as well as it being close to the team. That means he'll be staying with the children somewhere in this circle. The blue zones are the least built up areas so he'll most likely be in one of them" He added before taking another gulp of coffee and sitting down.

Morgan ran a hand over the back of his head and looked down at the information in front of him with a tired expression. "Prentiss and I looked through everything that was brought back from the apartment, there was nothing either of us could see as being useful" He explained between yawns with Emily giving an agreeing nod at the end.

"Garcia and I narrowed our general list of suspects to 256 people but it's unlikely we'll get any further on it with the information we have" Rossi stated then took a couple gulps of coffee.

"I'm trying everything to find out about Chad but he's done a pretty good job of covering up where he's been over the last six months" Garcia said in a soft voice.

Hotch looked at each of the six tired faces in front of him then sighed. A quick check of his wristwatch told him it was close to dawn. "I want you all to go home and get a few hours sleep"

The room was suddenly filled with objections from all members of the team, even JJ, who had been silent for the previous conversation, had jumped in to protest. Hotch held a hand up for silence and slowly the noise died down. "You aren't going to be any help to the children if you're falling asleep at your desk" He said sternly.

"We've worked longer than this on other cases" Morgan stated with a pleading look.

"This is an emotional draining case, you all know that" Hotch stated, his eyes combing over their reactions. None of the agents looked ready to leave. Hotch thought for a few moments then sighed again. "You can stay" He finally said, quickly followed by a relieved exhale from the team members. "On the condition that when you get tired you go home" He added. The agents quickly agreed, stood, took their coffee cups and left for their work stations.

**Sorry for the huge break in updates! My laptop cracked open and I had to take it back to the repair store, I didn't even have a chance to save anything to a memory stick. Thankfully, I had an awesome guy work really hard on my laptop so it was back with ten days of me giving it to him. The updates will be back to normal from now on so expect something for Saturday. Please review if you've got time!**


	8. the bloody maze

"Care for a chat?" The man asked but got only silence in reply. "Well, Declan?" He prodded when the boy didn't reply. Declan was crouching in the corner of the small cell, his arms on either side of the wall. The man sighed and moved closer, as he did so Declan sprung from where he was standing and launched himself at his kidnapper. The boy's arms had managed to wrap round the man's frame when he felt something hot run through his body, his stomach the starting point. His muscles tensed and he dropped to his knees, his breathing caught in his throat and gave the feeling he was suffocating. After a few moments Declan's vision failed him and the only noise he could here were footsteps and the slam of his door being thrown shut.

Declan couldn't tell how long he was unconscious for but it couldn't have been long, moonlight was still seeping through his small window. He pulled himself into a corner and tried to steady his breathing, there was an almighty ache in his head and his hands wouldn't stop shaking. "Hello?" He called into the semi darkness. "Can anybody hear me?"

xxxxxxxxxx

Reid's index finger glided down a page of a book, the words floating round his head. Beside him Garcia was typing more information into her computer. He'd taken refuge inside the tech queen's lair when everywhere else became too stressful. Will had been pacing round the bullpen since Henry's kidnapping, Morgan and Emily were getting more and more frustrated as they searched through the evidence pile in the briefing room and Hotch and JJ had been talking in hushed voice for most of the morning.

Something suddenly snapped his attention back to the book. Lots of the words had been underlined and they all seemed to be done at random until that point. He was sure this word had been underlined before. He flicked back 83 pages, his eyes locked onto the word 'maize' and his face scrunched into confusion. "Garcia, I might have something" He murmured while flicking forward to check he was right.

The man had never underlined a word more than once in the four books he'd looked through so far, this must mean something. Garcia swiped what she had been working on to another screen and opened a search engine. "Ready when you are" She stated, eagerness obvious in her voice.

"Have we had any cases involving maize farms or farmers?" Reid questioned.

Garcia typed in the information then clicked through the links. "I've got nothing for maize farms or farmers but there was a case three years ago of an apple farmer, could that work?" Garcia said, gruesome images of the victims popping up on the top screens where the woman couldn't see them.

"No. it has to have something to do with maize... Could you scan these books into your computer? There are some words that have been underlined twice and I think that might be a clue"

Garcia pulled a program onto her front computer, typed in something then spun round, pulled out a scanner and plugged it in. "Scanning and uploading them will take about the same time as you reading so I'll take half the books" She stated and took four books off the unread pile.

After ten minutes of the duo scanning and reading as much as they could Emily strolled in and flopped onto the couch. "Please tell me this means you've got a lead" She mumbled while resting a hand on her head.

"The UnSub might have hidden messages inside the books we recovered from the apartment" Reid stated while rapidly turning pages.

A few moments later a ding noise rang out through the room and Garcia grinned. "I've got another word in this book" She called as she sat down and clicked through the program. "Does the word 'red' mean anything?"

Reid's finger stopped sliding across the page, his mind going faster than ever. "Red maze!" He blurted out after a few seconds. "Three murders in a corn maze, the bodies were exsanguinated and the blood painted across the corn" Reid explained in a rushed voice.

Emily had lifted her head of her hand when he said this then quickly stood and made her way out of the lair. "I'm getting Hotch!" She called as she rushed toward the bullpen.

Will's head whipped up when he saw her pass him by and glanced round for an explanation but got none as she wrapped on Hotch's office door and yanked it open. JJ was sitting opposite Hotch behind his desk and they were deep in discussion. "Reid and Garcia found something in the books; they might have found another UnSub"

A minute later the group was gathered inside Garcia's lair, all eyes fixed on the screens. "Jerry Carlson was charged with the murders three years ago but there was another man, Robert West, who was brought in for questioning a few days prior to Carlson's arrest" Garcia read of the computer, the screens flooded with more pictures. "Carlson was never arrested or charged with anything but the people in his neighbourhood didn't believe he was innocent. After West's trial Carlson reported a series of vandalism on his house. He moved twice every year until last year when he settled in North Carolina"

"What's his address?" Hotch questioned while reaching for his phone. Garcia read out the address and Hotch turned to his team. "Morgan, Emily, Rossi and I are taking the jet to his house. Reid and Garcia: I want you to keep looking through these books and see if you can find anything else. JJ: stay by the phone encase he calls again" He quickly explained then left the lair, the three named agents following him.

xxxxxxxxxx

JJ and Will sat in silence, the bullpen had cleared out and the phone was placed between them. JJ knew it was selfish to want it to ring; after all it would only ring if another child had been taken. She just needed to talk to Henry again. She couldn't believe it had been over a day since he'd been taken.

Reid had finished searching through the books with no new rewards and was now sitting in the briefing room looking over the evidence pile, flicking through the notes Morgan and Emily had left behind about the stuff.

There wasn't much evidence that had been brought back from the house. Most of the objects had either been books or furniture that couldn't be moved. In front of him sat an assortment of objects including a small movie collection, clothes, plastic plants and an empty fishbowl.

Reid flicked through the clothes, running a hand over the material encase something was concealed inside only to come up empty. All objects had been tested for anything dangerous before they were brought in but Reid still felt the need to take a closer look at the plants.

He'd been there for almost an hour when a phone started ringing. Reid jumped to his feet and ran out of the room, stopping himself on the catwalk as JJ picked up the phone, answered it then placed it back on the table. A few moments later Garcia was out of her lair and in the bullpen.

"Good evening, agents" The voice from before said, he sounded pleased with himself which made everyone stop breathing for a moment. "I'm sure you've already worked out what this phone call is about… So, who's going to guess which child I've taken this time?" He asked gleefully.

"You sick sonofabitch…" Will growled then stood and began to pace again.

"Oh, do we have a guest with us today?" The man questioned. "How exciting! I wonder who it could be… It's definitely a man so not Beth. Must be William, am I correct?"

"You're damn right it's me" Will snapped and ran a hand roughly through his hair.

"I do love guessing games!" The man crowed childishly. "Now it's your turn! Who has the big bad wolf taken this time?"

Silence filled the room and the man sighed. "Well, aren't you a tired lot. It's a shame the other four had to rush off, I do enjoy Aaron playing mother bear to his team" All four eyes locked on the phone when they heard he knew they were four agents down. "I'll put you out of your misery now, shall I?"

**Any suspicions on who the child might be? **


	9. child number five

"Well, agents?" The man said after seconds of silence. "Do you want to know who I've taken or not?" He snapped, obviously irritated by the group not saying anything.

"Yes" JJ mumbled, she had already convinced herself it was going to be Jack but she needed conformation for Hotch.

"Goodness, you _are _a dull lot" The man grumbled. "Let's try and liven you up with another guessing game, alright? … I've taken a _boy_… Anybody want to have an early guess?"

The small group looked around; not guessing would only aggravate him more. Finally JJ sighed and asked "Is it Jack?"

The man grinned and let a long silence build up before answering. "Wrong!" He yelled to everyone's surprise, who else was there to take? "You didn't think I'd make it easy for you, did you Jennifer?"He remarked with satisfaction. "I suppose you'll need another clue… His first and last name begin with the letter 's'"

Reid's face dropped. "No, he couldn't have taken him… He couldn't have" He murmured, pushing the hair out of his face as his eyes locked on the phone.

"Oh, I'm afraid I have, Spencer. In fact, he's here right now"

"Who's he taken?" JJ whispered as she, Garcia and Will glanced round with a confused look.

"Sammy Sparks" Reid mumbled after collapsing onto a chair nearest the phone. "I'm gonna give you one chance right now, okay?" He growled into the phone. "You're gonna drop Sammy and all the kids off at the nearest hospital then you're gonna turn yourself in and I _might _put a good word in for your case"

"We both know that's not going to happen, Spencer"

"He's got autism!" Reid yelled at the phone. "You can't treat him like all the other children; he can't cope with the change! You need to bring him back!"

"I will do whatever I please!" The man snarled. "Now, I'm going to hang up and call back in precisely three minutes. I expect you all to have composed yourselves or there will be _consequences_"

The phone disconnected and JJ hurriedly dialled Hotch's number on a different phone. "Hotch, he called" She rushed to say as she switched the phone to loudspeaker. "He's got Sammy Sparks and he's calling back in three minutes" She added when Reid remained silent.

"I thought Sammy lived in Louisiana" Morgan remarked. "That's a sixteen hour drive, there's no way he could have got back yet"

"Sammy and his mom relocated to Maryland six months after the case was closed… They wanted a fresh start" Reid explained in a gentle voice.

There was a long silence as everyone thought over what was happening to Sammy, this UnSub wasn't going to have patience with him and his autism was going to make more problems than they cared to think about. "We'll be landing soon; Morgan and Prentiss will fly to Maryland and take a statement from Sammy's mom. He'll be calling back soon, contact us if you find anything else" Hotch instructed then hung up.

A few seconds later the first phone sprung to life and a loud ringtone pierced the silence of the bullpen. JJ picked up the phone, answered it and placed it back on the table.

"I trust you've regained control of your emotions" The man said in a sharp tone.

JJ glanced around then decided to take charge. "Yes we have and we're very sorry for disrespecting you"

The UnSub smirked at this comment and sat back in his chair. "It's nice to know at least one of you knows your place. Now, I'm sure one of your team members will be going to talk to Alison Sparks so I'll let you get on with your work. Hopefully your team will be in higher spirits when we speak again"

xxxxxxxxxx

Morgan glanced round his surroundings as he approached the Sparks' house, Emily by his side. An officer was standing by the door and only let the two agents pass once they'd shown their credentials, Emily supposed security was tightening around the case.

Alison Sparks was hunched over on a sofa, her chest rising and falling as silent tears fell from her eyes. Alison's friend grimly greeted the duo, settled them on chairs then left them to talk.

"We understand this is difficult for you, Alison. But to find Sammy we need to know everything that happened" Emily said in a soft voice.

Alison slowly sat up, wiped the tears off her cheeks and took a deep breath. "It was the same as always. Sammy sticks to a routine and yesterday wasn't any different. He went to bed at nine o'clock and I didn't hear anything till around midnight" She explained.

"What happened at midnight?" Morgan asked.

"There was this thump from Sammy's room… I thought he might have fallen out of bed but then I heard this noise like something being dragged against the carpet. I went into the corridor to see what was happening but this man grabbed me and tied me up… By time I got out they'd taken Sammy"

"Did you see what kind of car they were driving?" Emily questioned.

"No, I… I never saw a car"

"These men had to have a car to take Sammy, Alison" Morgan stated gently. "You might not have seen it but you could have heard it. Did you hear anything while you were untying yourself?"

"They… They were carrying Sammy down the stairs but he kept hitting out, punching them… Then it went all quiet and they opened the door"

"Did you hear an engine start?"

"No… But there was something… a sound. Like a van door being pulled shut, it made that scraping noise"

"Alright, that's really good" Emily complimented with a warm smile. "You've really helped us Alison" She added as the duo were guided out of the house by Sammy's mother. "Just call if you remember anything"

xxxxxxxxxx

Two men wrestled with Sammy Sparks, yanking and shoving him down the corridor. "Move you little spastic!" The taller man yelled when the boy landed a swift punch to his stomach. With a few more pushes Sammy was in his cell and crumpled in the corner. One of the men spat on the ground next to the boy then stepped out of the room and slammed the door.

The duo traipsed up the corridor and into a dingy living room where they flopped onto a sofa. "Bobby can give that thing dinner tonight, I ain't goin' anywhere near it again" The taller man growled as he took a swig from a beer bottle.

"Damn right" The other man agreed. "I don't see why we need that freak anyway; we've got the other four kids"

"Won't be five for long, anyway" The first man said. "I reckon we'll be shifting bodies soon, that little blonde one first"

**did anybody suspect Sammy? i was originally going to go with Jack but i thought that might be a bit too obvious so i racked my brain for any other kids and came up with Sammy Sparks. please review if you've got time, it really is awesome to have some encouragement!**


	10. co-operation

Reid paced the lair's floor; the sound of Garcia's typing filled the room. She paused for a moment then glanced behind her. "I ran the general description Sammy's mom gave us for the two men and crossed matched them but I've still got a possible forty two guys" She stated.

Reid thought for a few moments, the profiles running through his head faster and faster. "Take out anyone without a driving license" He instructed while walking closer to the computer, all the screens in the room showing images of possible subjects.

Garcia's fingers glided across the keyboard, certain pictures fading from the screens. "Alright, twenty left"

"Take off any that have a job or don't live in Virginia or the surrounding states"

Garcia followed his instructions until only two faces remained on the screens. "Josh Phelps is our first man. He's twenty one years old and originally from Dallas, Texas. He moved to West Virginia five months ago leaving his job and all family behind. He got in trouble with the law a lot as a kid, petty fires, vandalism, stuff like that. He and his friend Paul Stemming used to tear it up back in Dallas until Paul was struck by a taser, suffered complications and died when they were both seventeen"

"What link does the team have to Josh?"

"That's just it, there isn't that much of a link. I mean, Paul was tasered by one of the local cops, not any of you guys" Garcia said while typing. "We assited on the case but after Paul died it seemed to fall apart. Paul and Josh's names were cleared in court and that was the end of it"

"What about the publicity leading up to it?"

Garcia rapidly typed in her search for news relating to Josh Phelps and Paul Stemming and came up with a large reward. "The media went crazy over this" She murmured while skimming through the large amount of writing. "Alright, Paul _was_ cleared but the lead up to the trial was nuts. One of Paul's alleged victims' parents pulled several public stunts to keep Paul's name in the media as the man that raped her daughter. Seven months after Paul was cleared of any wrong doing, a man was arrested and tried without making it anywhere near the front cover"

Reid took a few moments to process what had been explained then nodded and grabbed for his phone to fill in Hotch on their latest discovery.

"Hotchner" The team leader answered when the call connected.

"Garcia found another UnSub, Josh Phelps. She's looking into another man at the moment but Phelps lives in West Virginia"  
"Morgan and Prentiss are driving to the jet now, tell Garcia to send Phelps' address to one of them and they can check it out" Hotch instructed before a small pause.

"How's JJ?" Rossi finally asked.

Reid looked to Garcia to answer this, he'd always felt awkward in situations like that and the tech analyst had spent the most time with JJ since Henry had been taken. "She's coping" Garcia answered which eased some of the tension. "She knows this guy's done his research on the team and, unless he wants to come out of this in pieces, he's not dumb enough to hurt any of the kids… including Henry"

xxxxxxxxxx

"I want this all boxed" Hotch instructed as he strolled into Robert West's apartment. "Anything too big to be moved needs to be marked for a complete search. Everything else is to be brought outside to the marked police car to be brought back to Quantico" He added while pacing round the building, red tape being torn off and placed on large items of furniture while the books were tossed into boxes and carried outside.

An hour later the bed and sofa had been sliced open and the bookshelf turned on its side and smashed apart to find anything hidden. The police cars had made their way to the private jet that had been brought in to transport the two profilers back to Virginia.

Hotch and Rossi made a final sweep around the apartment. The building was now completely empty apart from a few large pieces of furniture. "What are you going to do about Jack?" Rossi finally asked the question that had been playing on everyone's mind since Henry had been kidnapped.

"I can't do anything without breaking the rules" Hotch sighed as he closed the door to the apartment and made his way to the SUV.

"You can't just sit by and do nothing, Aaron. The UnSub's proved he's not planning to stop anytime soon"

"The UnSub hasn't shown any sign of escalating past another kidnapping either" Hotch stated as they slid into the car and took off toward the plane. "If I break his rules to protect Jack it'll endanger all five other children… We need to be closer to finding him before we go against the rules"

xxxxxxxxxx

A dark male figure sauntered down a long corridor, his eyes gliding over the five doors until it fell on the middle one. He quickly unlocked the door and strode inside, his eyes locking on the crumpled body in the corner. He sighed, turned the plastic chair right side up and sat down. "I don't enjoy hurting children" He stated, his hands in his lap as he observed the boy's steady breathing. "You left me no choice, Declan"

The body slowly unfolded itself and looked up at him with watery but fierce eyes. "Let me go" He ground out.

"I could do that… But it would involve some rather unpleasant business for both of us. You'll leave eventually, of course. But the game needs to finish first"

"I don't want anything to do with your sick delusion" Declan growled.

A shrill laugh cut the silence and an uneasy tension fell on the room. "I'm not _delusional, _Declan" He said with a cold smile. "I am in a game between the BAU team and my pawns. You and your counterparts are the prize. There's nothing delusional about that now is there?" The man asked but didn't leave time for an answer. "Now, I need your help to bring this game to a close… I can be rather impatient when it comes to a game that took so long to plan. I believe you can offer some information on Emily Prentiss"

"She's my friend" Declan mumbled as he roughly rubbed his cheek. "I won't let you hurt her"

"Oh, I'd never hurt her, Declan. I simply want to understand her" The man explained. "I simply want the information so I can have an upper hand in the game, no one will get hurt"

Declan nervously twisted his fingers together as he weighed up the choices. "You won't hurt Emily or her friends?" He asked after a longer pause.

"I wouldn't dream of it" The man replied solemnly then waited a few moments to let Declan think through his proposition. "So, do I have your cooperation?"

**Sorry this one is a little later than usual; I was behind on a lot of stuff and had to get my school work done before I could finish this off. The next update should be this Saturday as usual if all goes to plan. Please review if you've got time!**


	11. revelations

Chuck Harris was a nasty piece of work by all accounts. Born into a wealthy family with a heritage of questionable, some would have said he didn't have a chance. Some passed the blame to his father, a violent man who abused his wife just as much as his son. Of course, Chuck's father saw his violence as means to an end and something all parents should do. 'If Chuck isn't beaten regularly he'll become wild and have no idea how to run our business when the time comes' would be one of his defences.

That same excuse ran through Chuck's head when he was being dragged into custody at the ripe age of fourteen for assault. He already had his excuse planned for this one. "I was just hanging out with some friends and this guy starts on me… I wasn't just gonna let him get away with it!" he would say to his father three hours later. His father would show him a rare smile followed by praise for 'being a man'.

The next day Chuck's criminal record would be swept clean for the second time that month, a hefty wad of cash would be weighing down the sheriff's wallet and Chuck would be free again.

Chuck had been sitting in a bar mulling over these past events for almost the whole day when someone interrupted his thoughts. At that point he _knew_ it was his good for nothing sonofabitch father's fault. He had planned to get the gun from his father's office the next day, take it the family house and get rid of him once and for all.

Chuck might have gone through with those plans if a sullen stranger hadn't placed two drinks on the table and sat down. One of the glasses was for Chuck, identical to the beer he'd almost finished, and was slide over to him. The other glass contained aged whiskey which stayed by the man's side.

"You got a problem with me or something?" Chuck finally asked when he couldn't stand the man's even stare anymore.

The older man took a sip from his glass then placed it back on the table and met Chuck's eye. "You've had a hard time, Chuck" He stated, his muddy brown eyes fixed on the younger man.

"How d'you know my name?"

"I know a lot about you" The man said simply. "I know that you were falsely accused, Chuck. I know how to help you"

"You can't help me" Chuck growled into his beer. "It's all my bastard father's fault"

"You might feel like that now… But I know whose fault it really is"

Chuck's head shot up in anger but his thoughts stilled until he was left with a mixture of confusion and interest in the stranger. "Whose fault is it then?"

"The BAU, Chuck" The stranger explained in a soft voice that twisted Chuck's emotions. "They were the ones who investigated you and arrested you. It's _their_ fault"

xxxxxxxxxx

Reid's eyes glided through the three tables stacked with evidence. One of the tables, carrying Chad Moore's possessions, had been moved to the corner however the other two stood in the middle of the room waiting to be inspected. The books and electronics had already been sent down to Garcia's office to be processed so that left Reid with the task of categorising what was left over. He spent nearly forty minutes checking and scribbling down information of the belongings but eventually he had finished… without any more information than before.

He placed the last object he'd been checking back on the table then trudged back to Garcia's office which was considerably louder than before.

Will and JJ were scanning books as fast as they could, Garcia had brought out new equipment and alarms were ringing on her computer. JJ noticed Reid standing by the door after a few moments and pulled him to a pile of books. "Garcia might have another hit in the books" She stated while pushing a large pile of reading material toward the younger man.

Reid diligently took the pile of books, brought them to the least busy corner of the room and set to work reading.

It had only taken him fifteen minutes to work through two of the books and he was starting to enjoy himself when a phone's ringtone broke the noise. Garcia silenced her computers and everyone nervously turned toward the phone, it couldn't be him again already, could it?

JJ was the one who picked it up and answered the call then gave a very relieved thumbs up to the group. "It was just Hotch" She explained as they got back to work. "He took Rossi with him to check out Harris' apartment. He called to tell us Emily and Morgan got off the jet a few minutes ago and they'll be here soon" She added as the group got back to work.

Just as Reid got back into the pace of reading there was another interruption, this time it was Garcia's computer. "We've got a hit!" She called while searching through the computer for the information. "Alright the word is Alaska"

Reid scrunched his nose up at this, they had only ever had one case in Alaska and that wouldn't fit. "Are you sure there's nothing else?" He asked, it wasn't likely that Joshua Beardsley, one of their suspected UnSubs from the case in Alaska, was the person they were looking for.

"No, it's just Alaska" Garcia replied in a soft voice. She couldn't help think back to that case, it was one of the few she'd travelled with the team and the events were still vivid in her memory.

"We've got the names for all the younger UnSubs, right?" JJ said as she began to think more about what the message could mean. "So this would be a clue to find the leader. If it's not telling us the case he was involved in maybe it speaks to something he wants or a case he identifies with" She suggested.

Reid thought for a moment, his mind already skimming through the Alaskan case. "Owen Porter, our UnSub, and his mother were abused by his father as he grew up" He stated. "He might think the genetics of having a disruptive family led them both to the BAU"

"What if it's something about the team?" Garcia blurted out and attracted everyone's attention. "We've had plenty of cases where the child of an abusive home becomes an UnSub so why pick this case? I've only been on a few cases with you… What if this is about me?"


End file.
